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The Christian Right Loves A Bully

Thursday, January 23, 2014 11:39 EST

There‚Äôs a strong tendency in the public discourse about bullying to assume that adults either are strongly against it or that they are, at worst, indifferent to it because they fail to take it seriously enough. There‚Äôs very little discourse about how adults often encourage bullying and even benefit from it, probably in part because adults in authority at schools will adamantly deny the encouragement they offer bullies if confronted on it. But let‚Äôs be clear: Teachers and other authority figures are often the instigators when it comes to bullying. The ACLU is suing a school district in Louisiana because the adults have deliberately employed bullying as a weapon to marginalize students who don‚Äôt believe in Christianity. The plaintiff, Scott Lane, is suing because his stepson, who is Buddhist, has been subject to all sorts of abuse for not being a Christian, mostly at the hands of his teacher.

On a science test, their teacher had included a fill-in-the-blank question: ‚ÄúISN‚ÄôT IT AMAZING WHAT THE _____________ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!‚ÄĚ When my stepson didn‚Äôt know the answer (‚ÄúLord‚ÄĚ), she belittled him in front of the entire class. When he wrote in ‚ÄúLord Buddha‚ÄĚ on another exam, she marked it wrong. As she was returning that exam to students, one student proclaimed aloud that ‚Äúpeople are stupid if they think God is not real.‚ÄĚ In response, my stepson‚Äôs teacher agreed, telling the class, ‚ÄúYes! That is right! I had a student miss that on his test.‚ÄĚ The entire class broke out in laughter at my stepson.

The same teacher also told our children that the Bible is ‚Äú100 percent true,‚ÄĚ that the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago, and that evolution is ‚Äúimpossible‚ÄĚ and a ‚Äústupid theory made up by stupid people who don‚Äôt want to believe in God.‚ÄĚ She‚Äôs also told the class that Buddhism is ‚Äústupid.‚ÄĚ

When they went to the school to complain, they found that the general environment at the school was one that encouraged this kind of Christian bullying. The school, for instance, is covered in Christian decorations.

Students are frequently led in prayer, and students are required to attend an annual ‚ÄúSee You At The Pole‚ÄĚ prayer event. Teachers routinely hand out Christian pamphlets that Lane describes as featuring ‚Äúhe entire New Testament of the Bible as well as cartoons that denounce evolution and trumpet the evils of birth control, premarital sex, rock music, alcohol, pornography, homosexuality, sorcery, and witchcraft.‚ÄĚ Needless to say, when he told the superintendent about his concerns about his stepson being routinely bullied and humiliated for being Buddhist, the superintendent ‚Äúwas dismissive and told us that we live in the ‚ÄėBible Belt‚Äô and that this is just how things are.‚ÄĚ

Obviously, Lane‚Äôs stepson is a victim of all sorts of human rights violations here, starting with his freedom of religion. But this is also a good example of why we need to be skeptical when conservatives, particularly religious right conservatives, swear up and down that they oppose bullying. In a lot of states, the Christian right is actively trying to fight against anti-bullying legislation because, they claim, that it will be used unfairly to target Christians who are peacefully expressing their views, specifically on homosexuality. Or, as we saw with the arguments regarding the abortion clinic buffer zone, conservatives are pretending that the people who holler and scream at women trying to enter clinics are just sweethearts there to ‚Äúcounsel‚ÄĚ women. (The lawsuit itself disproves that notion, because if you are indeed trying to be polite and loving, then you start by not trying to force an interaction with an unwilling person.) But, in reality, they oppose anti-bullying laws because, as this lawsuit shows, bullying is a weapon that the Christian right loves and does not want to give up.

I would be livid and agree, some of the Christian Right do support bullying as long as it's aimed at the right people over the right topics. Hell, someone on CM told me it was my fault that my son was bullied in 6th grade, for not being Christian, because I wanted to be different so made him stand out as well. Some people seem to believe it's an effective way to encourage people to change. Poor persecuted Christians.

If this were my kid and the superintendent blew me off like that, I'd contact the ACLU too.

My kids attend a catholic school (for every reason except the religious side of it LOL)

I expect talks on the belief of god...I dont have a problem with this. However as a certain percentage of kids are non religious (my kids included) Pressuring them about god is something I would take exception to. Thankfully this doesnt happen even with some of the uber religious teachers.

I would never have my kids in a school like this and would be on the tail of the teacher about her behaviour as well as the other kids....and then remove them.

I just don't understand how they can push a religious agenda in a publically funded school. If you attend a Christian school or Catholic school then one would expect that.

American schools are notorious, as is America with not being able to separate church and state.....in my mind religion has no place in public school - you simply cannot assume that everyone has the same faith and neither can you pick just 1 to promote.

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